Cody Leichman’s bat speaks loudly and in turn so has his offensive output.

The left-handed hitting junior first baseman for the Central Michigan University baseball team, in his second year with the program after spending one season at Wabash Valley College, has solidified the middle of the order for all 27 games he has played in during the 2014 campaign.

Leichman leads CMU with a .370 average (34-for-92) and a .587 slugging percentage which includes nine doubles, one triple, and three home runs. He has also shown patience and to have plenty of respect from opposing pitchers by walking 12 times and getting hit by five pitches.

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Coming into last weekend’s home three-game series against Miami, Leichman had a 17-game hitting streak which was good for the second-longest streak in the nation. The reigning Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week entering the set against Miami, he proceeded to get at least one hit in the first two games to extend it to 19 before going 0-for-2 with a walk in the 2-1 series finale victory.

Needless to say, Leichman’s offensive production has been a major reason why the Chippewas are currently sitting at 17-11 overall and 6-0 in the MAC as they get set to host Buffalo this weekend in a three-game series at Theunissen Stadium. Game one starts Friday at 3:05 p.m.

“He’s been pretty consistent within his game plan and put together good at-bat after good at-bat,” Central Michigan head coach Steve Jaksa said. “Every once in a while he’ll get out of his rhythm and have a bad at-bat, but most of the time he is locked in and swatting the ball all around the field.”

After Central Michigan lost a good portion of its lineup to graduation following the 2012 season, Leichman was one of the new faces in 2013 that really helped provide the core for what has become one of the better offenses in the MAC.

“Central Michigan was the school most interested in me after my year at Wabash and the coaches called me every day talking about how they were doing in the MAC Tournament and telling me about the program,” Leichman said. “I had a really good year driving in runs at Wabash and I’ve always seen myself as a middle of the order run producing hitter. I knew Central Michigan’s first baseman (Nate Theunissen) was graduating and that it looked like a very good fit.”

Leichman and CMU have certainly proven to be a good fit.

During his sophomore campaign, Leichman batted .341 which was tops on Central Michigan and third in the Mid-American Conference. While his on-base percentage of .419 was among the best in the MAC, he did not believe his power numbers were quite where he wanted them to be as he finished with nine doubles and three home runs in 176 at-bats.

This season, Leichman has already eclipsed those extra-base totals in just over half as many at-bats.

“I didn’t have the power numbers I wanted so I just kind of tried to shorten up and get my hands working a little more,” Leichman said. “Not really a whole big adjustment, just a few minor ones and it seems to be working out for me.”

While middle of the order hitters are quite often almost strictly pull hitters, Leichman has proven to have the ability to use all parts of the field which speak to his high batting average and it forces defenses to play straight up against him rather than use any sort of extreme shift.

Leichman showed off his opposite field power Tuesday in a 13-7 win over Madonna as he sent a fly ball sailing over the left field fence for his third home run of the season. While he quickly admitted the home run was wind-aided, it still provided a glimpse into what he is capable of as a hitter.

“As much as I’d like to say I was trying to go that way, the pitch kind of dictates where you are going to go with it,” Leichman said of Tuesday’s long ball. “They’ve been throwing me outside a lot lately so I’ve been working hard to try and stay the other way. Honestly, I didn’t think that ball was going to get out but I’ll take help from the wind any time I can get it.”

Leichman followed up that lone game without a hit by going 3-for-4 with the home run, a double, two runs, and two RBIs in the win over Madonna. On Wednesday, he was 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and an RBI in a 6-3 loss at Michigan which snapped the Chippewas’ seven-game winning streak.

As for Central Michigan as a whole, it has been the pitching of Central Michigan that has been the blueprint of the 6-0 start in MAC play and Leichman says it has really taken the pressure off the offense.

“With our pitching staff it is really hard for opposing teams to get through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,” Leichman added. “Hats off to our starting pitchers because it’s really hard to use games when you are giving up only one run some games and four or fewer runs in every MAC game. It’s fun not being on the field very long in most innings.”

“The starting pitching of Buffalo is all back and those guys carried them quite a bit last year,” Jaksa said. “They are a well-rounded team and they’ve been in just about every game because of that pitching.”

Mike McGee will start the opener for Buffalo and he comes in with a 1-3 record and a 5.67 ERA. Anthony Magovney (5-0, 1.16 ERA) and Mike Burke (3-2, 1.71 ERA) will follow the next two days.